To set up your mailbox the first time, you must call in from your home phone.

Before you call The Message Center:

Choose a password between 4 and 13 digits. Do not use a simple string of numbers e.g.1234 or 2222.

Decide what you want to say in your personal greeting.

Call your Message Center call-in number printed on the front cover of this user guide from your home phone.

Enter the password you've chosen. Remember, it must be between 4 and 13 digits.

Enter your mailbox number (this is your home number) and press #.

Follow the voice instructions to confirm your password and to record your greeting.

Follow the voice instructions to record your name or press # to use the system name.

Listen to the instructions regarding 0 (settings area) and how to use the # key.

Two Ways To Check Your Messages

Once you follow the procedures for Getting Started, The Message Center is ready to take messages for you. If you hear a rapid beep-beep-beep sound (also called intermittent dial tone) when you pick up your telephone, you have a message waiting. Some phones have a visual message waiting indicator, such as a flashing light. You have two options for checking your messages.

Just Phone Home!

Dial your home telephone number (whether you're at home or away from home) and press * when you hear your greeting.

Enter your password and press #.

If you have an Extension Mailbox, you'll be asked to enter your extension number and press #.

Use Your Call-In Number

Dial your Message Center Call-In number (located on the front of this brochure) from home or away from home.

Enter your mailbox number (your home phone number) and press #. (This step is not necessary if you are calling from home.)

If you have an Extension Mailbox, you'll be asked to enter your extension number and press #.

Tip:If you're out of town and want to get your messages, you can call us to find a toll saver call-in number. We provide toll saver call-in numbers in most areas of California to help you save on possible toll charges. Just call 1-800-540-9989 to find out if there's a toll saver call-in number where you are.

Using The Message Center

Listening To Your Messages

Take control of your messages. Save, skip, fast-forward, rewind, erase, or forward your message to other users. You use your telephone keypad to give commands to The Message Center. It's that easy!

Time and Date Stamp

Would you like to turn the time and date stamp off? Would you like to hear time and date stamp only when you need to know? While in your Mailbox:

Press 0 for Settings Area and press # until you reach Time and Date Stamp Area, press 0.

To turn off or on press 0, to leave as is press #.
To hear time and date stamp on an individual message:

Press 88 while listening to a message and time and date will play.

Retrieving Erased Messages

Want to retrieve a message that was mistakenly erased? The Message Center keeps erased messages in an erased queue for 24 hours from the time the message was erased.. To retrieve erased messages:

Press 0 for Settings Area and press pound until you get to the Erased Message area

Press 0 at the Erased Message area and pound until you have found the message that you want to retrieve. You can press 2 to save the message, 4 to reply to the message or 5 to copy the message to another mailbox.

However if you erase a message that is already in your erased message queue, you cannot get it back.

Sending A Message To Another Message Center Subscriber

Want to send a message to someone without ringing their phone? You can send free messages to other Message Center subscribers in any area code within your service area.

Basic Messaging Instructions:

Access your Message Center mailbox and press 6.

Enter a phone number or distribution list.

Record your message after the tone and press #.

Press 0 to hear delivery options.

To send press # or hang up.

Sending A Message To A Non-Message Center Subscriber

Would you like to send a message to someone who does not have The Message Center. You can send messages to anyone in any area code in your service area. It's the fastest way to keep all of your friends and family up to date on plans, make announcements, and more. And it's just 25 cents per recipient.

* Your recipients can even send you a reply at no extra charge simply by pressing 2.

If the phone number you enter does not belong to a Pacific Bell Voice Mail or Message Center subscriber, The Message Center will deliver your recorded message by calling the recipient's phone number. The system will continue to try to deliver the message every 30 minutes for up to six hours! Messages will not be delivered between Midnight and 6am

If your message is not delivered, you'll be notified in your voice mailbox.* If sending a group message there's a 25 cent charge PER non-subscriber of The Message Center or Pacific Bell Voice Mail.

Creating A Distribution List

With a Distribution List, you can send one message to an entire group of people in your local calling area, all at once! You may have up to 8 group lists. Before you call in: Select a number from 1 to 8 that will identify your group and choose a name associated with it. For example, 1 ?Soccer Team, 2 for Study Group. While in your Mailbox:

Press 0 for Settings Area and press # until you reach Distribution List, then press 0.

Enter a number to identify the your group and record a title, then press #.

Add a phone number or numbers to the distribution list.

To create a new or change an existing Distribution List press 0.

Sending A Message To A Group using a Distribution List

Access the Message Center and press 6 to send a message.

Enter the Distribution List number to whom you want to send your message. While in your Mailbox:(1 for Soccer Team, 2 for Study group) and press #.

Record your message, at the tone. When you are finished recording, press #. Follow the voice instructions for delivery options, press # or hang up to send.

Replying To A Message

Want to send a reply to someone who sent you a message?

After reviewing the message, press 4 to send a reply.

Record your message. Your reply should be at least 10 seconds long. Press # when finished recording and press 0 for delivery options.

Forwarding or Copying A Message

You might get a message that you want someone else to hear. You can copy a message to other Message Center users.

To copy the message you want to send, press 5.

Follow the voice instructions to record an introductory message or remark and press # when finished recording. Press 0 for other delivery options.

Sending Yourself A Reminder

Have The Message Center call your home (mailbox number) to send you a free reminder message.* This is handy in lots of ways?remind yourself to pick up the dry cleaning, buy a birthday present, make a phone call?whatever. You can even use this feature to wake yourself up every morning. To set up or change your Reminder service while in your Mailbox:

Press 0 for Settings Area and press # until you reach the Reminder Area and press 0.

Follow the prompts to record the reminder message and to set the delivery time.

Reminders® can be scheduled for up to 30 days in advance. You can only have one reminder message scheduled at a time.

To Change Your Reminder Service

Press 0 for Settings Area and press # until you reach the Reminder Area and press 0.

To turn off press1, to review or change your reminder service press 0.

To record new press 0, to keep as is press #.

* Only available with TMC Deluxe and Call In One.

Changing Your Greeting Or Mailbox Name

You can choose two customized greetings for your mailbox:

A personal greeting for everyday use. Your personal greeting ("Hi, we're not available to take your call right now so please leave a message.") is the main greeting your callers will hear.

An alternate greeting can give callers a specific message and also allows you to turn message reception off. You can use this for special occasions to rely detailed information ("Hi, I'm currently online and cannot accept your call. Please leave me a message. Thank you.")

It's easy to change the greeting you want your callers to hear from almost any touchtone phone. You can record new greetings, or switch back and forth between your personal greeting and an alternate greeting.

Press 00 to go directly to the Greetings Area.

Listen to your current recorded greetings. To re-record press 0 and record after the tone.

Note: If while using an alternate greeting you turn off your Message Reception feature, NO messages will be received. It is important to turn on Message Reception to ensure all your important messages are received.

Changing Your Recorded Name

Your recorded name is what other Message Center users will hear when they send you a message from their mailbox. While in your Mailbox:

Press 0 for Settings Area and press # until you reach the Recorded Name area.

Press 0 at Record Name area and listen to the current recorded name and press 0 to record a new name.

Changing Your Password or Password Skip Feature

You can change your password whenever you want. It can be any combination of numbers or words that is 4 to 13 digits in length. It cannot be a simple string of numbers, e.g. 1234 or 2222. You can also use the Password Skip feature when calling from home. Password Skip allows you to check your message from home without entering a password. If you forget your password, don't worry. Just call Customer Service at 1-800-675-9005 to get help resetting it. While in your Mailbox:

Press 0 for Setting Area and press # until you reach the Password area and press 0.

If you ordered optional Extension Mailboxes for The Message Center, they are a handy way to keep family members' or roommates' messages separate. You can have up to eight Extension Mailboxes. This optional service gives everyone privacy. You'll hear only your messages?without having to listen to everyone else's.

Setting Up Extension Mailboxes

You must set up your Main Mailbox before you set up your Extension Mailboxes. To set up your Extension Mailbox(es) the first time, you must call in from your home phone and must have already set up your Main Mailbox. Before you call The Message Center:

Choose a password that is different from your Main Mailbox password or any other extension.

Access the Message Center and press #.

Enter your 7 digit home phone number and press #.

Enter your extension number and press #.

Enter your password for that extension. Listen to the prompts to confirm your password, and record an extension greeting.

If you have added an extension to a mailbox, your main mailbox becomes extension 1 and allows you to record a group greeting to direct your calls to the appropriate mailbox. To record a group greeting:

You may have ordered the optional Pager Notification service for The Message Center at an additional monthly fee. With a pager or Pacific Bell Wireless PCS phone you can be alerted when you have new or urgent messages in your Message Center mailbox.

Setting Up Pager Notification

While in your Mailbox:

Press 0 for Setting Area and press pound until you reach the Pager Notification area and press 0.

Listen to the prompts to set up your Pager Notification feature.

Tip:If you select urgent notification, be sure to tell callers in your greeting that by pressing # and 2 at the end of their message, it will be marked urgent and you will be paged.

Getting Help

If you need help setting up or using The Message Center, we're always available for you.

For in-mailbox help, press 0 for Settings Area and press # until you reach Helpful Hints area. You will hear a recorded help message (s).

With The Message Center Call-in-One, your Message Center (Land-line) and Pacific Bell Wireless PCS (Wireless-line) messages go into one mailbox. You'll be alerted when you get a message on either phone and you can conveniently check all of your messages at once. You will know you have messages by:

A beep or icon on your Pacific Bell Wireless phone.
You can retrieve messages for both phones using your Message Center Call-in number and password. You can also pick them up from your PCS handset with the touch of a button.

Setting Up Call-in-One Greetings For Your Home and PCS Phones

Note: If this is the first time you are setting up your mailbox, follow the Getting Started instructions. Press 00 to go directly to Greetings Area. Listen to the prompts to record your greeting for each phone line. Your home mailbox number is your landline or phone line 1 and your Pacific Bell Wireless PCS phone number is your Wireline or phone line 2 number.

Numeric Paging With Call-in-One

With The Message Center Call-in-One, callers can leave a numeric page that goes directly to your PCS phone. Remember to mention in your personal greeting(s) that you can be paged directly to your PCS phone. Callers need to press 0 2, during your greeting and follow the prompts. Here's a sample greeting: "This is Mary Jones and I am sorry I missed your call. Please leave a message after the tone. Or, you can page me directly by pressing 0 2 now. Thank you."

Terms And Conditions

The Message Center is not available on some Pacific Bell residential services. The Message Center is not available for business classes of service. All charges are recorded and itemized on your Pacific Bell telephone bill. Note: If you ordered via our automatic ordering system, we received your permission to obtain your name and billing address from your Pacific Bell account.

Messaging. It costs nothing to receive and send messages to other Message Center subscribers.

Extension Mailboxes. $2.95 each per month.

Pager Notification. $3.95 a month.

Service Order Changes. $19.95 per order to begin your service.

When you call The Message Center from outside your local calling area to pick up your messages, you will incur toll or long distance charges for the call. If you have Measured Rate Service, you will incur usage charges for every call The Message Center answers, as well as usage charges for every call you make from home to pick up your messages. The charges are in addition to The Message Center's monthly cost.

Airtime charges apply when calling to retrieve messages from your PCS handset and are based upon the Pacific Bell Wireless Calling Plan in place at the time. Calls forwarded to your mailbox from your Pacific Bell Wireless line will not incur messaging charges.

Call-in-One is $10.95 a month with a $19.95 setup fee for customers who do not currently subscribe to The Message Center. For existing Message Center customers, there is no setup fee to switch to Call-in-One and it's just $3 more per month.

Message Delivery to Non Subscribers 25c per non-subscriber.

Service Policy

Some services are not available in some areas.

Messages remain in your mailbox for the following period and are then deleted: Standard Mailbox?30 days; Deluxe Mailbox?60 days.

Pacific Bell will not disconnect any other services appearing on your bill solely for nonpayment of The Message Center charges. Pacific Bell Information Services may discontinue your Message Center service, however, if these charges arenot paid.

No one is permitted to use The Message Center for unsolicited telemarketing or in a way that affects the ability of Pacific Bell to provide reasonable service to other customers (e.g., as an announcement service).

Changes to The Message Center (e.g., adding or deleting an Extension Mailbox) can be made only by the person whose name appears on the basic telephone bill.

Some regulated services are provided with The Message Center. The Message Center has ordered and paid for these services on your behalf. These services include Message Waiting Indicator and may include one of three Call Forwarding features: Call Forwarding Busy, Call Forwarding/Don't Answer, and Call Forwarding Busy/Don't Answer. Call Forwarding Busy and Call Forwarding Busy/Don't Answer may prevent the reception of Pacific Bell operator interrupt calls.

Pacific Bell Information Services will investigate any abusive or unsolicited messages and take appropriate action, including possible referral to law enforcement agencies or deletion of the sender's mailbox for at least 30 days. Mailboxes will be reinstated only after the customer agrees to the Pacific Bell Information Services terms and conditions for service use. Mailboxes will not be reinstated if any outstanding payment is due.

The Message Center will be periodically unavailable after 10 p.m. for general maintenance.

While Pacific Bell Information Services can monitor and maintain acceptable service levels between The Message Center and an involved pager company, we cannot ensure acceptable service levels from the pager service provider. Any concerns or questions about your paging service must be addressed to your pager service provider.

Pacific Bell Information Services shall make reasonable efforts to provide continuous, uninterrupted, and error-free services to the customer, but the company's liability for failure to do so shall be limited to full or partial refund of the fees paid by the customer for such services for the period of interrupted or erroneous services. In no event shall Pacific Bell Information Services be liable to the customer or any person for any special, incidental, or consequential damages of any kind. The essential purpose of this provision is to limit the company's liability arising out of this agreement and/or provision of services.